Bill Walton, Hall of Fame basketball player who became star broadcaster, dies at 71

Invoice Walton was by no means afraid to be himself.

Bigger than life, solely partially due to his almost 7-foot body, Walton was a two-time NCAA champion at UCLA, a two-time champion within the NBA, a Basketball Corridor of Fame inductee, an on-court icon in each sense of the phrase. And off the court docket, Walton was a continual fun-seeker, a broadcaster who adhered to no typical norms and took nice pleasure in that, a person with a deeply critical facet concerning the causes that mattered most to him.

“Invoice Walton,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stated, “was really considered one of a form.”

Walton died Monday on the age of 71 after a protracted battle with most cancers, the league introduced on behalf of his household. He was the NBA’s MVP within the 1977-78 season, the league’s sixth man of the yr in 1985-86 and a member of the league’s fiftieth anniversary and seventy fifth anniversary groups. That adopted a school profession during which he blossomed whereas enjoying below coach John Wood at UCLA, changing into a three-time nationwide participant of the yr.

“I’m unhappy right now listening to that my comrade and one of many sports activities world’s most beloved champions and characters has handed,” Julius “Dr. J” Erving, a fellow Corridor of Famer, wrote on social media. “Invoice Walton loved life in each method. To compete towards him and to work with him was a blessing in my life.”

Tributes instantly started pouring in, and the NBA held a second of silence to commemorate Walton’s life earlier than Sport 4 of the Boston Celtics-Indiana Pacers matchup within the Japanese Convention finals on Monday evening.

Walton, who entered the Corridor of Fame in 1993, was one of many recreation’s most celebrated figures. His NBA profession — disrupted by continual foot accidents — lasted solely 468 video games mixed with the Portland Path Blazers, the San Diego/Los Angeles Clippers and the Celtics. He averaged 13.3 factors and 10.5 rebounds in these video games, neither of these numbers precisely record-setting.

Nonetheless, his influence on the sport was large.

Walton’s most well-known recreation was the 1973 NCAA title recreation, UCLA towards Memphis, during which he shot 21 for 22 from the sector and led the Bruins to a different nationwide championship.

“One in every of my guards stated, ‘Let’s attempt one thing else,”‘ Wood advised The Related Press in 2008 for a thirty fifth anniversary retrospective on that recreation.

Wood’s response throughout that timeout: “Why? If it ain’t broke, do not repair it.”

‘Relentless vitality’

They stored giving the ball to Walton, and he stored delivering in a efficiency for the ages.

“It is very onerous to place into phrases what he has meant to UCLA’s program, in addition to his super influence on school basketball,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin stated Monday. “Past his outstanding accomplishments as a participant, it is his relentless vitality, enthusiasm for the sport and unwavering candor which were the hallmarks of his larger-than-life character.

“It is onerous to think about a season in Pauley Pavilion with out him.”

When Walton retired from the NBA he turned to broadcasting, one thing he by no means thought he could possibly be good at — and an avenue he generally questioned could be doable for him, as a result of he had a pronounced stutter at occasions in his life.

Seems, he was glorious at broadcasting: Walton was an Emmy winner, finally was named one of many high 50 sports activities broadcasters of all time by the American Sportscasters Affiliation and even appeared on The New York Instances’ bestseller listing for his memoir, “Again from the Useless.” It advised the story of a debilitating again harm suffered in 2008, one which left him contemplating taking his personal life due to the fixed ache, and the way he spent years recovering.

The final a part of that was simply Walton hyperbole. He was recognized for his on-air tangents and generally appeared on-air in Grateful Useless T-shirts; Walton was an enormous fan of the band and referenced it typically, even generally recording satellite tv for pc radio specials celebrating what it meant to be a “Deadhead.”

And the Pac-12 Convention, which has mainly evaporated in some ways now due to school realignment, was one other of his many loves. He all the time referred to it because the “Convention of Champions” and sang its praises all the way in which to the tip.

“It does not get any higher than this,” he as soon as stated on a broadcast, tie-dyed T-shirt on, a Hawaiian lei round his neck.

Walton was concerned within the broadcasts of school and NBA video games for CBS, NBC and ABC/ESPN in his profession, together with stints working for the Clippers and Sacramento Kings as an analyst. He returned to ESPN and the Pac-12 Community, additional touting the roots of his league, in 2012.

“Invoice Walton was a legendary participant and a singular character who genuinely cherished each expertise all through the journey of his extraordinary life,” ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro stated. “Invoice typically described himself as `the luckiest man on the earth,’ however anybody who had the chance to work together with Invoice was the fortunate one. He was a very particular, giving one who all the time made time for others. Invoice’s one-of-a-kind spirit captivated and impressed audiences throughout his second profession as a profitable broadcaster.”

Received his first 73 school video games

However Walton will all the time be synonymous with UCLA’s dominance.

He enrolled on the college in 1970, earlier than freshmen may play on the varsity group. As soon as he may play for Wood, the Bruins had been unbeatable for greater than two years — Walton’s UCLA groups received their first 73 video games, the majority of the Bruins’ extraordinary 88-game successful streak. It was snapped towards Notre Dame in 1974, a 71-70 loss during which Walton shot 12 for 14 from the sector.

“Invoice Walton’s passing is a tragic tragedy. One of many nice ones in UCLA basketball historical past,” Digger Phelps, who coached that Notre Dame group, posted Monday on social media. “We had been nice pals through the years. It will not be the identical with out him.”

UCLA went 30-0 in every of Walton’s first two seasons, and 86-4 in his profession on the varsity group.

“My teammates made me a significantly better basketball participant than I may ever have change into myself,” Walton stated at his Corridor of Fame speech in 1993. “The idea of group has all the time been probably the most intriguing facet of basketball to me. If I had been fascinated about particular person success or a person sport, I might have taken up tennis or golf.”

Walton led Portland to the 1977 NBA title, then acquired his second championship with Boston in 1986.

“Invoice Walton was an icon,” stated Jody Allen, the chair of the Path Blazers. “His management and tenacity on the court docket had been key to bringing a championship to our followers and outlined one of the magical moments in franchise historical past. We are going to all the time treasure what he delivered to our group and the game of basketball.”

Walton thought of himself lucky to have been guided by two of the sport’s biggest minds in Wood and Celtics patriarch Crimson Auerbach.

“Thanks John, and thanks Crimson, for making my life what it has change into,” Walton stated in his Corridor of Fame speech.

Walton was the No. 1 decide by Portland within the 1974 draft. He stated Invoice Russell was his favorite participant and referred to Chicken because the hardest and greatest he performed with, so it was acceptable that his enjoying profession ended as a member of the Celtics. “Taking part in basketball with Larry Chicken,” Walton as soon as stated, “is like singing with Jerry Garcia,” referencing the co-founder of the Grateful Useless.

In his closing years, Walton spoke out about points that mattered most to him, reminiscent of the issue of homelessness in his native San Diego, urging metropolis leaders to take motion and create shelter area to assist these in want.

“What I’ll keep in mind most about him was his zest for all times,” Silver stated in a press release. “He was an everyday presence at league occasions — all the time upbeat, smiling ear to ear and trying to share his knowledge and heat. I treasured our shut friendship, envied his boundless vitality and admired the time he took with each individual he encountered.”

Walton died surrounded by his family members, his household stated. He’s survived by spouse Lori and sons Adam, Nate, Chris and Luke — a NBA championship-winning participant and now a coach.

Stated Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, who was teammates with Walton in Boston: “He defiantly competed for each second in life to be the best it may presumably be.”